Economic Viability of Steam as an Alternative to Pre-plant Soil Fumigation

With the ban of methyl bromide and rigorous regulations of current viable alternatives like chloropicrin and 1, 3-dichloropropene, it has become an urgent task for researchers to find economically viable alternatives to the use of methyl bromide. This thesis contributes to the literature by evaluating the economic viability of steam as a pre-plant soil fumigation for strawberry production in California. Based on data collected from trials conducted during the 2011--2012 strawberry growing season at sites near Watsonville and Salinas, we compare the economic performance of fumigation using Pic-Clor 60, soil steam, and the unfumigated control. Incorporating an expert's opinion of possible changes in application rate of the steam machine and changes in the fuel costs, we find steam has the potential to be an economically viable alternative to pre-plant soil fumigation in some cases given reductions in application time that can reasonably be expected to be achieved in the near future. In addition, as an energy-intensive technology, steam's economic viability is highly correlated with the price of propane.